Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site, considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world and one of Vietnam’s most famous destinations. A bay dotted with a myriad of small islands and rocky formations that rise from the sea, with coves for swimming and caves to explore by kayak. A boat is certainly essential for exploring Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam, and practically everywhere you’ll find cruises of one or two nights in the bay promoted and recommended.
However, what’s often not mentioned is the high environmental impact of these cruises and, in general, the overwhelming number of tourists who flood this delicate ecosystem daily. The truth is that Halong Bay is polluted and overcrowded. What should be paradise has been marred by the negative effects of mass tourism—uncontrolled and unregulated (or with regulations that are only superficial), with little regard or respect for the natural beauty that surrounds us, which isn’t here solely for human enjoyment but must be respected and protected.
Read also: The Underground River in Palawan, One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World
No, I’m not saying you shouldn’t visit Ha Long Bay or exclude it from your Vietnam itinerary (though personally, it was the stop I appreciated the least), but I want to point out a more sustainable alternative for spending the night in the bay: staying in a floating house in a fishing village.
Overnight in a Floating House in Halong Bay
Since ancient times, it seems that groups of fishermen have created floating villages in Ha Long Bay. These villages consisted of boats and floating wooden houses, where fishermen would return after their nights of fishing to sell their catch. Gradually, the floating villages expanded as entire families, not just fishermen, began to live there, and some villages even reached several hundred people, creating small communities with schools and shops for the residents. With the rise in tourism, the fishing villages themselves became an attraction in Ha Long Bay, with tourists from the cruise boats stopping to see the unique lives of these communities. In 2012, however, the Ha Long Bay Management Board decided to essentially close these floating villages, forcing residents to return to the mainland, or at least to no longer live “full-time” in the fishing villages, primarily to ensure adequate education and to preserve the bay (which, let’s say, could be preserved by removing other things as well). Many villages were dismantled, and several are now under direct government control, which manages the housing and the fishermen who work there, following imposed directives, almost as if they were company employees.
Cai Beo is the last remaining fishing village, where homes are still owned by families, although they must alternate between life in the village and periods on land, and they’ve had to undertake costly upgrades to their floating houses, especially regarding waste management.
Cai Beo is located a short distance from the port of Cat Ba, in the bay of Lan Ha, Ha Long’s smaller sister. Here, in addition to fishing, many houses cultivate oysters and shellfish, rent kayaks, or offer dining services.
Eco Floating Farm Stay Cai Beo is a floating house at the end of Cai Beo fishing village, surrounded by the towering rocky formations typical of the bay, and offers the chance to spend the night there. The rooms are tiny, with just enough space for a bed, a chair, a small shelf, and a wall-mounted fan. Naturally, there’s no air conditioning. Bathrooms and showers are shared with other guests, while the family lives on a boat moored to the floating house, along with a calm dog and an indifferent cat who occasionally wander around the common areas.
We arrive here on the 1 pm boat, after the bus ride from Hanoi, organized by the agency managing the homestay, and immediately a sense of peace envelops us. The beauty of the surrounding nature, the silence of the bay, the simplicity of the floating house. Connection is weak, and the Wi-Fi only works on the small terrace, but it doesn’t matter—there are books available.
And I can’t tear my eyes away from what surrounds me. Maybe it’s the bright green of the still sea, or the power of those karst rocks covered in vegetation encircling the bay…
I sit on one of the wooden beams of the “courtyard,” my feet dangling in the water.
I feel serene.
We decide to take the complimentary kayaks and venture into the small bay behind the house: a closed, quiet bay where we hear strange animal sounds, perhaps birds communicating with each other. The water is clean, and it’s high tide.
The heat is intense, so we find a small spot to beach the kayaks and dive into the water—alone, far from the chaos, far from the tourists crowding the cruises. The traffic and motorbikes of Hanoi, which surrounded us just hours ago, are a distant memory, swallowed by the vast nature around us.
We start paddling again through the fishing village, though I must admit, the smell of fish is very, very strong, and I’m glad the floating house where we’re staying is in a more secluded spot.
We choose to dine here, watching the sun set behind the promontory, sharing the meal with an almost-retired Dutch couple and a young French couple who met a few months ago while backpacking in Southeast Asia.
Vietnamese spring rolls, grilled fish and prawns, chicken nuggets, and rice: everything is delicious and plentiful. We decide to skip the nighttime kayak excursion to search for bioluminescence, instead enjoying the peace and the stars filling the sky, untainted by light pollution. The night is peaceful, although the small window doesn’t let in enough air, and the fan is a bit noisy.
The cool dawn air fills us with energy, but at low tide, the water is unfortunately less clean, and several plastic bottles float in the bay, reminding us that, despite our little corner of paradise, Ha Long Bay suffers from severe pollution.
After a breakfast of eggs, bread and jam, cake, and fruit, we savor the surrounding peace, taking another kayak ride and trying SUP with little success. A final swim before the boat arrives to take us back to Cat Ba, the island in Lan Ha Bay where we’ll spend the next two nights.
In hindsight, we should have booked the boat tour through Ha Long and Lan Ha bays directly from the floating house, optimizing our time and avoiding an extra motorboat transfer.
The Blue Swimmer Adventure agency that manages the floating house is actually the same one we chose the next day for a daily boat tour (which, yes, still has an environmental impact but is far less than that of a cruise with air conditioning, kitchens, hot tubs in every room, etc.) at the excellent price of 760,000 dong/person, with an itinerary through both bays and a maximum of 35 passengers.
Book the Eco Floating Farm Stay Cai Beo – 1,795,000 VND for one night in a double room with breakfast.
Choosing this floating house instead of a cruise will not only help prevent further pollution in Ha Long Bay but will give you a unique and authentic experience, surrounded by the peace and beauty of this natural wonder.
I promise to tell you more about visiting Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island soon, but for now, I leave you dreaming of that little floating house in the heart of the bay…
Heading to Vietnam? You might also find these useful:
– My Northern Vietnam Itinerary
– Surviving Vietnam’s Sleeping Buses
– Ninh Binh: The Enchanting Halong Bay on the land
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